Benefits of CBD for Multiple Sclerosis

Anyone that has cared for a patient with Multiple Sclerosis(MS) or someone suffering from one knows how worse this disease can get. It is chronic since it affects two areas of the body, the brain, and the spinal cord.

Since the spinal cord is involved, one is likely to have issues to do with mobility, ranging from the numbness of limbs to paralysis. But that’s not all, people with MS report to experience vision problems, pain or muscle spasm, and chronic fatigue.

It then begs the question: Does high quality CBD help to ease the pain associated with multiple sclerosis? In this article, we will show you how CBD works and how it reduces the pain. Without further ado, let’s dive right in?

How CBD Works and Its Formulation

Cannabinoid(CBD) has a natural compound in the body called cannabinoids. The purpose of this compound is to change and improve the way the cells communicate with one another. In other words, when you take CBD, it interacts with the existing endocannabinoid system in the body.

One thing you need to realize is this compound and endocannabinoid system is part of us. There are two kinds of cannabinoids. We have CBD and THC. THC is the compound that gives you the “mental high.” In other words, it causes psychoactive effects.

If you are using medical marijuana, you should use a strain that is high in CBD as opposed to THC because it will help ease the symptoms such as pain and spasms. That’s where hemp comes in.

Hemp has a high percentage of CBD cannabinoids and a low percentage of THC. What that means is, if you take it, you won’t feel “high.” This explains why it is easier to get CBD oil from hemp than other cannabis plants.

CBD is taken in different forms, such as oral capsules, oral sprays, intranasal sprays, and oils. The most common formulation is CBD oil. It consists of CBD oil and a carrier oil like coconut oil or hemp seed oil.

CBD can be put in food, drinks, or applied directly on the skin. Up to now, it is not clear which formulation is effective, but there’s a whole debate around CBD formulation.

CBD Healing Initiative with Multiple Sclerosis

Cannabidiol (CBD) is known for exhibiting anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects associated with an illness such as ulcerative colitis and Alzheimer’s disease. Given the little information about its working mechanisms with MS, medical experts theorize that it could assist patients who have multiple sclerosis.

According to the National Institute of Health, CBD lessens the seizures that come with multiple sclerosis while minimizing the pain and inflammation. The same study also goes on to say that depression and fatigue are alleviated with CBD. In other words, all the effects of MS are eased, which improves the patient’s mobility and quality of life.

In the United Kingdom, CBD oil is available in the form of a drug called Sativex, which is a combination of CBD and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The drug has a ratio of 1:1 (CBD and THC). Information from the NHS website reveals that this drug is only prescribed when all other medication has been exhausted for economic reasons.

The drug is prescribed to patients in states that have medical cannabis programs who feel that traditional pharmaceutical drugs are not helping them.

CBD cures a lot of conditions. The only problem is there’s a lack of clinical studies to back things up. Multiple sclerosis has no such problem because there are clinical studies that back how CBD prevents symptoms associated with MS. And this scientific evidence has made CBD to be listed in the UK, the USA, Canada, and other countries.

Clinical studies show that patients who received Sativex had a better quality of life and low spasticity after they took the CBD oil treatment. But the exact method of how CBD interacts and works in the body to alleviate the effects that come with MS remains unclear.

A new study from the Department of Pathology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine also shows that a full spectrum CBD prevents MS-like symptoms. The research team gave female mice EAE using the MOG35-55 as an antigen. The mice were then induced with CBD once the first symptoms of EAE were discovered.

The researchers tracked the progression of the disease using clinical scores to monitor different symptoms expressions. The scores were graded from 0 to 6 to represent the observable symptoms from zero clinical signs to death. The mean score for the group of mice was calculated daily and was compared to the score for CBD treated mice.

The research team found out that CBD ingested mice had a slow onset of symptoms, their clinical mean score of symptoms was 2.2, which revealed only partial paralysis of the hind limbs. The other group of mice ingested with EAE had a mean clinical score of 4.1, which explains the mice were going through a period of tetra paralysis.

Conclusion

Previous research identified two unknown mechanisms through which CBD controls the clinical effects of multiple sclerosis. The first is through a direct positive influence on the anti-inflammatory cytokines and negative influence on pro-inflammatory cytokines. Second is the indirect manipulation of anti-inflammatory MDSCs (myeloid-derived suppressor cells) that prevent T cell induction.

These mechanisms in the field of cannabis science have enabled scientists to have a better understanding of cannabidiol in the body. Most importantly is the efforts to find out effective drugs that will fight autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.

From the study above, the one from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine concluded their paper by recommending that ‘’CBD is an excellent candidate in the treatment of multiple sclerosis  and other autoimmune diseases.”

If further research is done on MDSC manipulation by CBD based drugs, chances are, scientists could develop novel medicines and advance autoimmune disease treatment. If you are suffering from MS and maybe conventional medicine has not worked for you.

This is the moment for you to try CBD. Invest in a high quality CBD. Quality CBD oil can be expensive. If you have the means and the desire, go ahead and get it. As always, make sure to do thorough CBD research related to your condition before you can use it.